Outstanding PhD student amplifies her career prospects

PhD student, Qiongyue Kang, at the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) has been awarded the highly regarded Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad.

The award targets top-tier Chinese PhD students who have not received funding from the Chinese government. Open to disciplines in 29 countries including, USA, UK, German, Japan, Australia and Canada, the coveted award, which comes with a $6000 US dollar cash prize, has been received by only 30 students in the UK this year.

Qiongyue, who hails from Hunan province in China, said: "I am absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious award and to have my efforts and hard work recognised and rewarded. I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Dave Richardson, and my colleagues for their guidance and support throughout my PhD.

"My research topic is: 'The design and optimisation of multi-mode EDFAs (Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers) for the space-division multiplexing systems solution to the predicted "capacity crunch"'. My theoretical work is strongly backed by the fabrication and characterisation teams in the ORC and my amplifier design has led to the commercialisation of the world's first multimode EDFA."

Professor Dave Richardson said: "I am delighted to see Yvonne’s hard work over the past few years recognised in this way. The theoretical support that she has provided to our fibre fabrication and device teams here has been of huge value in some of our largest telecommunication and laser research programs and underpins numerous ongoing collaborations with external academic and industrial partners around the world."